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Community service fosters teamwork, as Auburn-area Buena Vista Elementary School students found out while cleaning up a landscape in Kent, Wash. (Connie Mitzelfelt)Upper-grade students present a week of spiritual emphasis for their peers at Shelton Valley Christian School and learn about serving Jesus through ministry. (Judy McCain)Five upper-grade students at Shelton Valley Christian School experience the service of ministry through presenting their school's Week of Spiritual Emphasis. (Judy McCain)Multiple grades at Buena Vista Adventist Elementary School collect and sort food donations for the Auburn Food Bank. (Vicki Rutherford)Seventh- and eighth-grade students at Buena Vista Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School assemble kid-friendly activity bags for guests at Auburn Academy Church's Journey to Bethlehem community outreach. (Vicki Rutherford)

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Students Learn Art of Service

As educators teach academics, they also strive to mold young people for ministry and service. Here's a report of service activities in Washington Conference schools:

At Baker View Christian School in Bellingham, Wash., students and teachers engaged in a week of service along with their Week of Prayer. "We did various service activities each day and had different presenters talking about service at home, school, community, country and church," says Anthea Lindsey, Baker View principal.

Students at Cypress Adventist School in Lynnwood, Wash., and Lewis County Adventist School, in Chehalis, Wash., make a difference through presenting full church services for constituent churches. Lewis County students are preparing to give Bible studies by participating in a Bible marking class.

Third-and fourth-grade students from Kirkland Adventist School recently presented an entire church service. Shelton Valley Christian School students presented a Week of Prayer for their peers.

Kirkland Adventist School packaged food for the Feed the Nations project, provides gifts and gift cards for the Giving Wishes charity, and grades five and six regularly visit assisted living centers. Lewis County Adventist School students are becoming adept at disaster response cleanup, and ninth-and tenth-grade students work monthly at a local food bank.

Forest Park Adventist Christian School in Everett, Wash., makes a difference through monthly themes of service. Mountain View Christian School in Sequim, Wash., has an annual community outreach with food drives and community cleanup.

Several schools—Baker View, Buena Vista, Olympia, Orcas Island, Shelton Valley—collect toy-filled shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Baker View served as a drop off location for Whatcom County, and processed 1,200 shoeboxes. Olympia also collects socks for the homeless Sock-It-To-Us program.

Service-oriented curriculum is also reflected at Cedarbrook Adventist Christian School in Port Hadlock, Wash., where students have adopted a road in the community to keep clean, raised money for the People of Peru Project instead of exchanging Christmas gifts, and sent notes of encouragement to church members.

Service is a bedrock value at Orcas Christian School in the San Juan Islands. Students in grades K–12 write letters to senior citizens, host community dinners, deliver 1,400 holiday cookies, deliver 1,400 Mother's Day flowers, engage in an annual mission trip, assist at a clothing bank, clean a beach, participate actively in a Big Brother Big Sister program, and adopt an inner city school in Seattle to provide homeless children with school supplies, clothing and personal hygiene items. "We have received many letters of thanks from the community who appreciate the fine qualities of our children and the art of service we are striving to instill in them," says Tom Roosma, Orcas principal.